Silent Words
by Erik deSoir
Summary: Christmas is a time for family. Warning: slightly fluffy ending.


Title: Silent Words

Author: Erik deSoir

Disclaimer: Harry Potter and its characters belong to J.K. Rowling, Warner Bros. and to various publishers including but not limited to Scholastic Books, Raincoat Books, and Bloomsbury Books. No copyright or trademark infringement is intended. Sad for me.

Pairing: HD, of course, my favourite!

Warning: fluffflufffluff

Note:

I received an email that had been forwarded to me. It contained a list of things a group of 4-8 year-olds said about what love means. I was inspired to write a story for each one:

"Love is what's in the room with you at Christmas if you stop opening presents and listen." Bobby - age 7

"Draco?"

"Mmm?"

"Christmas is coming up. D'you have any specific plans?" Harry fidgeted with the hem of his sweater.

Draco looked up from his magazine and said, "Not that I know of, why?"

"Oh, I was just wondering if you had some party to go to on Christmas day." The fidgeting turned into picking invisible lint off the sweater.

"Oh no, not on the day itself. We may have to appear at a few, but Christmas day is clear."

"Okay." He turned and left, a small smile playing on his lips.

"Wake up! Wake up!" Harry jumped on the bed.

Draco rolled over, pulling the covers over his head.

Harry, however, would not be deterred. He shook Draco (a dangerous thing to do, really) and shouted, "It's Christmas! Get up!"

Draco mumbled under the covers and rolled to face Harry. His white-blond hair was poking over the top of the blanket and his silver eyes looked blearily at Harry. "Wot?"

Harry grinned and said, "It's Christmas, Draco, get up."

"S'too early f'Christmas, Harry. Lemme sleep a bit more," Draco mumbled through the blanket.

Harry shook his head, still grinning, and grabbed up the blanket from around a protesting Draco. As he marched out of the room with the blanket in his arms, he called over his shoulder, "Come _on_, Draco!"

When Draco made it downstairs dressed in black slacks and a white sweater, his hair still a little fuzzy, a breath-taking sight met him.

Red-reds were scattered all over the room he and Harry had set up the tree. A small mountain of glittering packages was spilling from under the twinkling pine tree. He stood in the doorway blinking.

Harry spotted him from across the room and a grin broke out across his face. He called out, "Happy Christmas, Draco!"

All heads turned toward Draco in the doorway, all of them smiling. He felt a blush creep across his cheeks and a small smile form on his lips. He started to walk toward Harry when small hands suddenly clutched at his legs. He looked down and saw a burst of red curls that framed a freckled, blue-eyed face.

"Hello, dahling," Draco drawled.

The girl hanging off him giggled at his words and let go of his legs to reach her arms up in the air. He bent down to pick her up automatically and settled her on his hip. She wrapped her legs around his middle and her arms around his neck. She laid her head on his shoulder and giggled again.

Hermione smiled and said to him, "She's been missing you terribly. She asks about you ever other day."

Draco turned his head to look at the girl with wide eyes and whispered loudly, "Is that true?" She just nodded her head and grinned.

He hitched her higher on his hip and made his way across the room to Harry. He leaned forward and pecked Harry on the lips and murmured, "What is all this?"

A smile played on Harry's lips as he said, "I knew you'd never go to the Burrow, so I brought the Burrow here."

"How Slytherin of you."

"Yes," Harry said, reaching out to smooth the stray hairs Draco hadn't bothered getting, "but I didn't think you'd mind."

After Draco greeted everyone, they all moved into the dining room for brunch.

"Hermione," Ginny started, "you'll be happy to know that the elves have the day off. Feel free to eat the food Mum and I prepared."

Hermione beamed, turned to Draco and said, "How did they take having the day off?"

Draco snorted and exclaimed good-naturedly, "They're terrified! I'm sure they're all cowering in their quarter awaiting clothes. Harry, of course, has tried to convince them to relax and enjoy the break, but I doubt they are having any of that. And don't try to talk to them again," he added quickly. "The last time that happened they worked overly hard. I think they thought we were upset with them."

Further down the table, Harry and the twins were talking about business.

Fred pointed his fork at Harry, "You will go nutters for what we've got coming out now. Come 'round sometime and we'll show you. It's still in the experimental stages, but it's looking brilliant."

George started laughing and said, "We've had a ball trying it out on each other."

"What is it?" Harry asked, his curiosity absolutely piqued.

George leaned forward and said, "Remember when the war got started? And Dad got promoted?"

Harry nodded and Fred picked up, "Remember the Metamorph Medals? The necklaces that you put on and made you change appearance? Well, now that the war's all over, we got our hands on one…"

"…and we're improving it." George finished.

Harry raised an eyebrow and said, "Well, what's the improvement?"

"Well, we're aiming for changing your appearance. Stuff like the shape of your nose, the colour and length of your hair, the build of your body."

"And…?"

Fred started laughing and George said, "We've almost got it to change your sex, too."

Harry blinked at the two men then roared with laughter as he imagined the twins poncing about in skirts with long hair.

As the brunch came to an end, Draco felt little hands on his leg again. He looked to the sides of him but didn't see anything. He lifted up the tablecloth and found blinking blue eyes. He dropped the tablecloth and reach under to find some hair. He found a curl and gave it a small tug. Giggles erupted from under the table and Hermione's face contorted as she tried to listen.

She lifted the tablecloth and found her daughter giggling between Draco's feet. "Come out from under there, monkey." More giggles and then Draco had a lapful of little girl.

He wrapped an arm around her and said to the rest, "Are we ready to open presents?"

The girl in his lap wiggled around and everyone around the table sounded their consent. Draco scooped up the girl and led the way out of the room.

Draco settled into a couch and the girl snuggled against him. Harry sat next to him and put a hand on his leg. Draco smiled at him and Harry beamed in return.

The next hour was a whirl of ripping paper and smiling faces. Everyone was delighted with what they got and spent another hour examining, or in the case of a few, played with their gifts.

As everyone settled in, a momentary silence fell upon them. Harry laid his head on Draco's shoulders and Draco put an arm around Harry's waist and drew him closer. Harry let out a sigh of contentment and Draco found himself mirroring it.

Everyone looked around at the scene they made and smiled.


End file.
